AQI remains ‘very poor’ in Delhi, no respite for next two days

Winds up to 20 km/hr were recorded in the city on Tuesday, which led to some dispersion of pollutants, snapping a three day streak of severe air

Delhi’s air quality marginally improved on Wednesday -- aided by strong winds, but remained in the ‘very poor’ category, even as shallow fog persisted in the region. The average air quality Index (AQI) stood at 328 at 8am on Wednesday - down from 354 at 4pm on Tuesday.

Delhi’s air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from December 17 till December 19. (ANI photo)

While the lowest visibility at Safdarjung was 900 metres on Wednesday, it was 1,100 metres (mist) at Palam, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, adding consistent winds of 7-10 km/hr were recorded in the early hours of the day too.

This meant operations were fairly smooth at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international (IGI) airport after two days of disrupted operations.

Winds up to 20 km/hr were recorded in the city on Tuesday, which led to some dispersion of pollutants, snapping a three day streak of severe air which peaked at 461 on Sunday - Delhi’s second worst December day ever.

Similar wind speeds of 15-20 km/hr are expected briefly during the day on Wednesday too, with consistent westerly to northwesterly winds now expected till Friday, meteorological experts said. However, forecasts show despite the dip, the AQI is unlikely to improve further and should remain in the ‘very poor’ range till at least December 19.

“Delhi’s air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor’ category from December 17 till December 19. The outlook for the subsequent six days - from December 20 shows the AQI is likely to be between ‘very poor’ and the ‘severe’ category,” said the Centre’s Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi.

The CPCB classifies air quality as “moderate” when the AQI is between 101 and 200, “poor” between 201 and 300, and “very poor” between 301 and 400. Beyond 400, air quality is termed “severe”.

At 8am, out of Delhi’s 39 active stations, 30 were in ‘very poor’ with the rest in the ‘poor’ category. On Tuesday, Delhi had one station in ‘severe’ while 28 stations were in ‘severe’ on Monday.

“Consistent winds will continue till at least Friday, so there will be marginal relief from the pollution till then,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice President at Skymet.